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Moon Yumi Modern Utopia or ‘Animal Society’?
ism and interventionism in foreign relations, and between
utilitarianism and vulgarity in American popular culture.
Han attributes these contradictions to pragmatism itself,
the overarching American ideology, which accepts the
conflicts in things and in the world. From this viewpoint,
such contradictions in American culture are a correctible
problem and even a source of progress. 47
Perceiving America’s contradictions as a source of
progress, Han is optimistic about America’s future. Since
Americans have been experimenting with all sorts of
human ideas and practice, their current culture is a “product
of what men achieved with their free will in a free land.”
Thus he is very generous about America’s problems, writing,
“If American culture has a defect, it is because human
nature has a defect. If there is strength in the country’s
culture, it proves that human nature has such a character.”
Han is eager to see how this America will exert its
leadership in the future world. Regarding Pan-Asianist
claims about the relief of Eastern civilization, Han adds
that American ideals are not simply Christian but consistent
with the Confucian theorem in The Analects, “Do
not do to others what you do not desire [for yourself].”
Han concludes that Americans have not yet achieved this
ideal, and that their global destiny will change depending
on whether or not they in fact accomplish this vision. 48
It is surprising that some Chogwang authors defended
America in such bold and optimistic terms while Japan
intensified its Pan-Asianist propaganda and rapidly
mobilized Korea for the war in China and, potentially, in
the Pacific. Approaching the Pacific War, Chogwang began
printing anti-American essays. 49 It is striking how these
new essays contravene the journal’s earlier recognition
of America, and indeed admiration of its civilization. The
new anti-American authors criticize the history of American
imperialism in East Asia by recalling the memory
of the Korean-American War in 1871. They emphasize
America’s “hypocrisy” on the grounds that America’s
imperialism in Asia and Latin America violated the country’s
idealistic rhetoric. These anti-American authors also
appropriate leftist critiques of capitalism in projecting an
“evil” image of America as the most threatening enemy of
“East Asian Co-Prosperity.”
Ham Sanghun, who had generally reported on international
relations in an empirical attitude, was among
those who transmitted Japan’s justification for the war
to his readers. In Chogwang’s December 1941 issue, published
right before Pearl Harbor, Ham wrote that war
with the United States was imminent, given the tense
situation in the Pacific and America’s unyielding position
toward Japan. After the Second World War broke out in
Europe, Ham argued that Japan, as a “hegemon of East
Asia,” “naturally” demanded the areas under the domination
of France, Holland, and the UK, and tried to establish
the East Asian Co-Prosperity Sphere. Referring to the
US-British “ambition for world domination,” Ham writes
that Americans wanted to connect the British, Dutch,
China, and the Soviets in a ring, and confine the Japanese
empire. Ham maintains that only “power” can solve this
US-Japan conflict, and that Japan should avoid being (uselessly)
induced to follow the appeasement measures of
the United States. 50 Although this article delivers Japan’s
rationale for war with the United States, it is fair to mention
that Ham’s wording remains less enthusiastic than
that found in other Pan-Asianist articles.
Anti-American essays in Chogwang after 1941 were
stereotyped replications of Japan’s wartime messages.
Makino Kōichi (Yi Hongjo), a Tokyo University graduate
and official of the Yi Royal House Library, published an
article after Pearl Harbor on America’s imperialist history
in Asia. Makino argues that the US dropped its Monroe
Doctrine after completing the development of the West
Coast and became a modern imperialist country. The US
colonized the Philippines and wants to transform China
into a semi-colony. America has aimed its Open Door
Policy at preventing other powers (Japan) from obtaining
exclusive privileges in China, so as to better wield America’s
own power there. Because the US fostered its “sinister
ambition” in the East and the Pacific, Makino asserts,
the Japanese empire smashed Pearl Harbor on December
8, 1941 (December 7 in the United States). Makino agitates
that it is time to “eliminate the invasive footprints of
Western imperialists in East Asia,” and that Japan will in
the near future expel whites from the region and establish
the “Great East Asian Co-Prosperity Sphere.” 51
47 Han Ch’ijin, “Amerik’a munmyŏngnon,” pp. 150-151.
48 Han Ch’ijin, “Amerik’a munmyŏngnon,” p. 159.
49 On the 1871 Korean-American War, see Ch’a Sangch’an, “Sinmi tae yangyoran: yuwŏl sahwa,” Chogwang, June 1940, pp. 66-71; Ch’a Sangch’an, “Sasangŭro pon chosŏn’gwa migugŭi kwan’gye,” Chogwang, May
1941, pp. 98-107. A more critical history of America also appeared; see Yi Myomuk, “Migugŭi ŏjewa onŭl,” Chogwang, June 1941, pp. 64-71.
50 Ham Sanghun, “T’aep’yŏngnyang t’ŭkchip: migugŭi t’aep’yôngnyang chŏngch’aek,” Chogwang, December 1941.
51 Makino Kōichi, “Ilmi oegyo p’alsimnyŏnsa,” Chogwang, January 1942, pp. 58-67. Makino Kōichi followed Japan’s name change policy. His original Korean name was Yi Hongjo.
24 Korean Histories 3.2 2013